Secrets
by TheGirlInThePineappleEarrings
Summary: Fluffy Romione AU. One night during dinner at the weasley's, Ron and Hermione escape to the outside to talk for a while...
1. Chapter 1

_A/N Hey guys! this is my first time writing fanfiction. I hope you enjoy it!_

 _Disclaimer - none of the characters or settings from the harry potter series are mine, they belong to the wonderful JK Rowling, who brought this magic into my world_

Hermione's POV

I was jolted from my thoughts at dinner as Ron nudged me in the side with his elbow. I looked up to meet his eyes. He subtly gestured with his head at the door behind us, indicating that he wanted to talk to me outside. I nodded swiftly in acknowledgement before leaning over to Ginny and quietly whispering in her ear that I was going and would see her in our rooms after dinner.

While the Chaos that is the Weasley's family dinner continued inside the house, Ron and I walked quickly and quietly out the door, I felt Harry's eyes burning a hole in my back as the door clicked softly behind us.

Once out of the dining room we walked in silence through the kitchens to the outside world. we both unconsciously began walking in the direction the flat lake, just out of view from the house.

As soon as we stepped out into the cool, damp night air I took a deep breath in and began to finally relax, out of the stares of the other Weasleys' and most importantly right now. away from Harry.

I regret yelling at him earlier, but I can't believe he would do that us all. You'd think he'd at least tell me and Ron, we're his best friends for god's sake!

"Are you ok Mione?" Ron asked, tenderly placing a hand on my shoulder

"Yeah…" I replied my eyes rising to meet his "its just-…"

"Harry…?" Ron finished for me.

"Yeah…" I pursed my lips and nodded again.

He removed his hand from my arm, I was briefly disappointed until he slung his arm over my shoulders and drew me in close. I rested my head on his shoulder as we walked.

"I feel the same as you do, you know, that right?" Ron stated looking down at me. "what he did was totally out of line, he never should have spoken to you like that"

I sighed and looked at the ground "but maybe I shouldn't have yelled at him, Ron. We can't even begin to understand what he has to deal with, with you know who being in his head and everything…"

Harry and I had screamed at each other for a good 10 minutes this afternoon before Mrs Weasley came up to see what was going on. I felt bad about it, but Ron was right, he never should have reacted like that, and my dignity was not going to let me be the one to apologise this time.

"Mione, you know we're not the same people as when we met in first year right? we've all changed and grown…" he stated looking quizzically down at me. I half nodded in reply, feeling as if my world was beginning to fall down around me. Maybe I should apologise.

"but" Ron continued "he needs to learn that even if he is the boy who lived in the media, he is just a normal boy to us. He needs to learn to apologise for his mistakes first."

"I know Ron" I snapped removing my head from his shoulder. His hand began to soothingly rub the top of my right arm. I brought my hands up to my forehead, then looked up at him.

"I'm so sorry" I whispered, my eyes filling with tears "I just really hate fighting with you guys"

"It's ok" Ron whispered in reply

he opened his mouth to say something more but seemed to think better of it and snapped it shut. we continued to walk on in silence.

I felt Ron slow to a stop beside me and I did the same. We stood for a while, on the bank of the flat lake staring out over the waters. Then he broke the silence.

"Ummm….Mione…"

"Yeah…?" I answered gently

"I have to tell you something…" He continued.

"Hhmm" I tried to encourage him.

"Well I…ummm" he looked at the ground and then dropped his arm from around my shoulders and grabbed both of my hands in his. He brought them to his chest, gripping them tightly, before suddenly dropping them while still leaving my small hands in his larger ones. He looked up with his startling blue eyes and stared directly into my amber ones. He visibly swallowed and began to open his mouth, when.

" **BANG!** "

and then the irate sound of Mrs Weasley screaming broke the serene silence of the night.

" ** _FRED, GEORGE_**!" followed by **" _I WANT EVERYONE IN THEIR ROOMS NOW_ "**

Ron and I quickly glanced at each other before running back to the house, still hand in hand.

We reached the corridor between our rooms puffing and panting, but still hand in hand.

"G'night Mione" mumbled Ron roughly pulling me into an extremely unexpected hug. His hands gripped me tightly around my waist pulling me into him, and I felt him bury his head in my hair. Something was definitely _'off'_ with the way he was acting but never the less, I wrapped my hands around his neck rising to my tiptoes and letting one hand wander to the base of his neck to gently to feel the soft curls there.

Suddenly without warning, he was gone. behind a slammed door.

I shook my head in surprise.

'Boys…!' I thought exasperatedly.

 _A/N Please feed this hungry writer reviews, dear readers. Constructive criticism is great!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer – none of the characters or settings from the harry potter series are mine, they belong to the wonderful JK Rowling!_

Hermione's POV

I quietly pushed open the door to the room I share with Ginny. She was sitting on her bed idly flipping through the pages of a magazine. She jumped to her feet when she heard the door click behind me.

"Where have you been?" she demanded turning to face me, crossing her arms in front of her "As endearing your little escapees with Ron are, I had to cover for _both of you_ when mum was in here _worrying_ about where you were! You _so_ owe me one" she demanded. Her feigned stern look quickly vanished and was quickly replaced with the trade mark Weasley mischievous grin. Oh no, what was she thinking.  
"So" she stepped towards me waggling her eyebrows suggestively "How did your little escapee with good ol' Ronikins go tonight? Have you two kissed yet?"

"Ginny!" I shrieked, slapping her arm playfully. I could already feel the blood rushing to my face. "What are you talking about, He's my _best friend_! That could _never_ happen!" I rambled quickly, waving my hands around in a flustered manner. I tried my best to glare at her, but it's a little hard to look angry and intimidating when you've gone bright red.

I felt rather than saw her teasing grin as I turned my back with an indignant huff, grabbed my book and tossed myself onto my bed, intentionally ignoring the knowing grin she was shooting in my direction.

After a few moments I felt the side of my bed dip down, I continued to stare obstinately at the pages of my book, ignoring her presence.  
"Hermione" Ginny demanded

"Ginny" I replied

"Hermione"  
"Ginny"  
" _Hermione"  
_ " _Ginny"  
_ "You're infuriating, you know, that right?"  
"It's one of my best quality's" I replied teasingly, dramatically flicking my hair, I looked up, my eyes finally coming meet those of the red-haired girl sitting on the edge of my bed. I sighed finally giving in to her unrelenting gaze. Damn her for knowing me so well,

"what do you want me to tell you, Ginny?" I said more seriously "Do you want me to say that one of my best friends currently hates me? Oh, and speaking of best friends, the other one makes me feel things a best friend _shouldn't feel_?! How could I fall for my friend, Ginny!" I could feel my voice raising in pitch and volume, But I couldn't stop. "I feel like I've betrayed him by doing this, but I can't help it!" I continued, trying to calm my voice. "I don't even know what to feel anymore." I groaned putting my hands on my forehead. Ginny reached across and patted my leg comfortingly.

"well for starters Harry would never hate you, Hermione, he's just mad at the world right now and you happened to be the one he took it out on" she said soothingly.

I sighed dropping my hands and looking up at her. "yeah, deep down I know that. And I know he's taking a lot of crap from the media right now, but we're his friends, and he's insane if he thinks he can get away with tearing us down like he did to me today…" I trailed off

"yeah…" Ginny agreed softly.

"He doesn't understand how hard it is for me to be a muggle born witch in your world" I continued angrily. "I know that everyone only sees me as the little mudblood bookworm, who only has friends out of pity and who will probably be killed by you-know-who before I graduate Hogwarts. _he doesn't need to tell me that!"_ I ranted.  
"Stop, don't say tha-" Ginny started to say but I cut her off

"Yes, I know he didn't mean it, but it doesn't mean it hurt any less" I continued bitterly. I took a slow deep breath trying to calm myself down. I shouldn't take my frustrations out on Ginny.

We both sat there in silence for a moment, both thinking about what I'd just said. The sounds of deep, muffled yells rumbled from above, filling the room. Suddenly Ginny spoke up, breaking through the tension in the room left from my rant and the yells above.

"Hey Hermione?"  
Mmmh?" I questioned, I thought she was going to give me advice about my _'Harry situation'_ but to my surprise, she didn't.  
"I think you're wrong about your feelings for Ron being one-sided" she spoke quietly "why else do you think him and Harry are yelling up there?" On that note, she hurriedly scrambled off my bed and crawled into her own.  
"Goodnight, Hermione" she said in the same quiet tone, turning off the lights and leaving me to ponder her last statement alone in the quiet of the night.

* * *

I woke up panting heavily. I shove my covers off of me and rolled onto my back staring into the darkness, I'd had the most awful dream.

I had dreamed I was in Diagon Alley with Harry and Ron getting our school supplies like normal. it was all cheery and we were chatting as normal, then it all went wrong. They each grabbed one of my wrists and hauled my down to Knockturn alley, into a dingy little alley near Borgin and Burkes. There was an old man there, his robes were dirty and torn and he had a repugnant smell.  
'is this the mudblood' he'd growled  
'yes' Harry and Ron had replied with looks of disgust on their faces as the handed me over to him. The man dragged me off down the dark alleyway, my screams seeming to be silent to everyone. Harry and Ron staring after me with glazed looks of disinterest in their eyes. Then, thank God, I woke up.

After a few minutes of firmly telling myself it was only a dream, I uncertainly extracted one arm from my cosy blankets and patted around on the table next to me looking for the small alarm clock. When I found it, I pressed the button on the top, light flooding into my face. I hissed quietly and winced. I was just able to make out the time before I slammed the clock into my bed, the light disappearing under the mound of blankets. It was 2:34 am. Maybe a glass of water would help me go back sleep? Careful not to wake Ginny I rolled out of my bed and snuck across the room and opened the door, venturing into the hallway beyond.

I padded down the stairs deep in thought about what Ginny had said hours before.

" _I think you're wrong about your feelings for Ron being one-sided…why else do you think him, and Harry are yelling up there?"_

Was she right? Ron had been acting a bit off lately and all these hugs were a bit out of character for him, not that I was complaining or anything.

I recoiled slightly as my feet hit the cold kitchen floor. Ok, I wanted water, seemed easy enough. But there was one problem, where were all the cups?

I looked around uncertainly trying to remember which cupboard held cups. I walked forward hesitantly and opened the cupboard above the oven. Nope, try again, only plates here. Shutting the doors as quietly as I could, I moved to the next cupboard and opened the doors. HA Victory! Well half-victory anyway. I could see a few cups in the cupboard but just my luck, they were sitting at the back of the top shelf and well out of my reach. I stood on my tippy toes and reached up as high as it could, but it was no use. They were way too high for me. Now, what could I do?

'Ahem!'

There was a cough from somewhere behind me, I jumped letting out a small squeal at the unexpected noise. I whipped around, slamming a hand over my mouth. I spotter Ron leaning on the edge of the kitchen counter behind me.

"You scared me, idiot" I hissed at the sleepy boy.

Not many people can pull off the "I woke up and still look this good" look. But, gosh, Ron definitely can. His tousled bed hair was a gift to the world and I couldn't help but stare as he sleepily ran his hands through it. The overstretched neck of his old Chudley Cannons T-shirt sat crookedly allowing the low light the reflect off his collar bones. I'd never thought collar bones could be attractive, but my opinion was quickly changing.

"sorry" he grumbled "let me get it" he croaked starting to move towards me. His husky, morning voice sounded like music to my ears. He stepped over to where I was standing and I watched as he easily reached up and grabbed two cups and filled them up from the sink below.

"thanks" I mumbled looking down as he handed me one of the cups. I lifted it to my mouth gulping down the water gratefully. After a few moments, I realised he hadn't moved at all I let the cup down from my mouth and met his eyes finding them already intensely trained on me.

"Hey, ummm… Mione, I was meaning to ask you, would you like to go swimming together tomorrow morning?" He asked tentatively looking down at his water "Well actually this morning I guess" he amended looking up at me. I opened my mouth to reply but he continued to ramble. "Just us two I mean. There's something I want to tell you, but we got ummm…interrupted last time…" he trailed off.

"Of course! I'd love that!" I answered excitedly, the question was a little unexpected, but any time alone with Ron was time well spent. He shot a smile at me which I couldn't help but return.

Moments later, we turned and started to walk back up the stairs to our rooms again.  
I really wanted to ask him about why he was yelling at Harry before, and I was desperate to know what he was going to tell me. But I decided not to push him, he'd tell me when he was ready, I was certain of that. And I'd certainly find out some those answers in a couple of hours! And if it was just going to be the 2 of us maybe I could tell him how I felt too?

We paused when we reached my door.

"ummm…well G'night Mione" he mumbled awkwardly.  
"Goodnight Ronald" I smiled. I rose up to my tiptoes and swiftly kissed him on the cheek before turning and entering my room. I smiled into the dark, I could imagine the cute embarrassed look on his face as he processed what had just happened. I finally snuggled into my blankets once again. I was now ready to sleep, and I couldn't wait for tomorrow!

* * *

 _A/N Hey guys! So, this was originally supposed to be a one shot and I'd just like to say thanks to_ _chemrunner57 and banzi, who's reviews encouraged me to continue with this!_

 _I feel like this chapter is a bit more jagged in the transitions and doesn't include as many Romione interactions as I would have liked. But considering I didn't really know where this chapter was going to go when I started it, I'm happy with my work!_

 _As always, constructive criticism is appreciated, I'd love to make my writing the best it can be! Thank you so much for all your support, dear readers!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer – none of the characters or settings from the harry potter series are mine, they belong to the wonderful JK Rowling!)_

Hermione's POV

I woke to sound of birds singing outside before it was light. I lay comfortably in my bed for a while, the events of the previous night running through my head, before realising with a start that I had to get ready to meet Ron for our morning adventure. I glance at the moon hung low in the sky before grabbing my wand, clothes and swimmer to go underneath and silently ducked out of the room and escaping down the hall to the bathroom where I could get dressed without waking Ginny.

I pulled on a simple black, one-piece swimsuit. It had thin straps and the neck line was quite low, but hopefully it would be fine once we were in the water. Over the top I threw on some blue shorts and a striped jumper.

I parted my hair down the centre and braided back the sides, hoping to slightly tame my bushy mop.

Finally, I pulled on my sneakers, leaving the bathroom, silently closing the door behind me.

I slowly snuck down the main corridor that connected all our rooms. And finally reached the top of the stairs and was about half way down after remembering to skip the 3rd step from the top as it creaks when I had a feeling of dread wash over me.

"EEEEKKKKK" I slammed a hand over my mouth to muffle my scream.  
"jeez Mione! Calm down…it's me!" I heard a voice hiss into my ear.  
I slapped at the hands that were wrapped around my waist.

"Ronald Weasley" I whispered furiously "you made me JUMP, you made me SQUEAL"  
I felt Ron's chest rumble as he chuckled quietly. He stuck his head over my shoulder "Ahh…You love me really" he whispered in my ear.  
I keep pouting for a little while longer.  
"Urrg…Fine I forgive you" I complained "damn you, let's go" I huffed  
He chuckled again, this time sending shivers down my spine as I felt his chest rumble against it. He removed one of his arms while leaving the other around my waist, he walked around so he was standing next to me and his hand was on my hip.  
"Let's go" He whispered to me before we began to slowly descend the second flight of stairs.

We walked quietly in silence until we passed by the kitchen where I tugged at the arm around my waist before turning sharply and walking inside. Ron waited patiently at the door for me. I grabbed 2 apples and a thermos of tea and ran back out to meet Ron as soon as I reached the door He re-wrapped his arm around my waist and we continued the rest of the walk into the crisp morning in silence.

"So, how did you sleep?" Ron made and attempt to break the silence that hung between us.  
"Alright" I answered "But it got better after my knight in shining arm helped me grab that glass" I grinned up at him. He smiled before looking down at me

"Always happy to help, princess" he said leaning over to playfully ruffle my hair, laughing as I yelped, ducking and grabbing his hand

"oi!" I grinned indignantly "this- "I gestured to my head "- doesn't just happen, I take back my knight comment" I pouted

"what" he gasped dramatically reaching for his heart "you can't take that back, I'm you knight!"

Our playful conversation continues as we walked further away from the house and to our place of salvage from all the drama that was happening at home.

The water in the lake was crystal clear, deep and was free of sharp rocks. Surrounding the deep lake was soft green grass and high trees that blocked some of the sun and all view from the burrow. This was our little paradise. No one else knew about it. It was our place of escape.

I could hear the birds singing above me, and the wind blowing through the trees.

"Beautiful…" I breathed  
"Yeah…." Ron murmured back to me, his eyes intensely locked with mine  
"Well…it's always beautiful out here in the morning, isn't it…?" I stated trying to make some small talk.  
"Yeah…" Ron replied again softly then continued on in a louder tone "you remember that time Seamus's cauldron exploded in potions last year?!" He laughed lightly  
"yeah!" I giggled back "how could I forget; his expression was priceless!"  
"Mmm…" Ron agreed "then he tried to blame it Snape himself!" We both laughed heartily at this memory, it had been funny at the time, and still was.  
"And what about when Malfoy tripped over the vines in herbology and managed to flip that table" Ron managed to choke out. We laughed out loud, unrelenting, ignoring everything else, but what was happening right then and there.

"What that?" I asked Ron. I had just noticed that he was carrying a small, drawsting bag in his hand. When he saw what I was looking at, he hurriedly shoved it back in his pocket

"…that is for me to know and you to find out after" he grinned mysteriously  
"Just tell me!" I asked again  
He chuckled annoyingly  
"Ron" I pleaded, pushing gently at his arm "pleeeaaaassseeee"  
He waved his hand in the air as if brushing off the comment  
"Ron!" I asked more indignantly. he started to walk faster he long legs easily carrying him past me.  
"Race you" he cried back over his shoulder as he broke into a run.  
"UUUURRRRGGGG" groaned, running after him. He was on.

It was no surprise that Ron beat me by a good 50 feet, but in my defence, it came down to height, not talent.

"And THAT is why you never mess with me, princess" he puffed out  
"ohhh…." I panted out, practically doubled over "Getting a big head up there are we Mr knight?!"  
"you wouldn't be insulting me now would you!" he exclaimed squatting down to meet my eyes.  
"Me….never!" I replied

"Well good" He said stretching up, "because I would be unable to give an unworthy Princess my gift"  
"gift!" I said excitedly straightening up  
"Well…" said Ron hesitantly "A gift of sorts…"  
he sat down on a rock and I followed in suit. He proceeded to pull the small bag out of his pocket and hand it to me, he pulled it back at the last second and to a deep breath then opened his mouth.  
"First, yes this is for you, but I have something to tell before I hand it over." He stood up, walked over the edge of the lake then turned and walked back over to me. He looked me dead in the eye then back at the ground before  
"IReallyLikeYouHermione"  
"What!" I gasped, I felt like I had been hit in the chest with a bolt of ice.  
"I'm sorry-"  
there were fireworks exploding in my head  
"- I didn't want to ruin our friendship" he finished hastily  
My breathing got faster, I felt rather than saw Ron step towards me but then catch himself and stop

"Mione? Princess?" he asked hesitantly

I looked up at him, I desperately wanted to tell him that I felt the same way but the words wouldn't come

' say something Hermione' I screamed in my head.

"So..Umm I bought a small gift, as a token of… well please" Ron said awkwardly, still waiting from my reply, handing me the small drawstring bag.

I reached out to grab it silently, and slowly undid the drawstring prying the bag open. Ron watched me nervously all the while. I reached a hand in with my finger outstretched before scooping up something that was hard, cold, light in weight and small. I pulled my hand out and let the object dangle from my fingers, it spun, catching the light and sparkling brightly. I laid it in my open palm and marvelled at the small object. It was a silver necklace with a matching silver charm. A small feather.

"Wow…!" I gasped. Ron cleared his throat uncertainly  
"so you…like it then….!" He asked carefully  
"like it." I exclaimed. "I LOVE IT!" I shrieked throwing my arms around his neck. I felt all his muscles tense then relax under my touch. He returned the hug, wrapping his strong arms around my small waist. He pulled me firmly against his chest and I obliged, happily. We stood like that for a while before he pulled back leaving his arms around my middle. I let my arms slide down off his neck and slip over the top of his chest.  
"So… ummm-" he started  
"Can you fasten it for me?" I interrupted  
"Of course Princess" came the reply

I turned around to face the lake and lifted my bushy hair away from my neck. I felt Ron's arms come over my head and place the necklace around my throat, the silver was cold on my skin. It was so quite around us that I could hear his steady breathing as he fastens the necklace behind my head. He let the necklace dropped and spun me around, I looked down at the necklace admiring it. Ron stood a little in front of me, also staring at the necklace.

"I thought the Feather was appropriate for you" Ron began to explain looking downwards kicking his feet. "It reminded me of the Wingardium Leviosa thing from first year… which is one of my…best memories."

"Thank you" I said in earnest "I absolutely adore it"

We stood there staring into space, until I suddenly broke the silence that had settled over us.  
"Want to go for a swim?" I asked smiling mischievously, I saw Ron's face light up as he smiled back at me  
"of course"

I sat down on a rock a pulled off my shirt off, carefully placing the behind me on top of the rock. Once in my bathing suit, I stepped up, away from the rock and looked over towards Ron, He was sitting on a rock, like me, but was still pulling off his shoes. He was barefoot, wearing nothing but hiss swim trunks. And…damn. He stood up and walked past me grabbing my wrist and hauling me after him.

We walked briskly over to the water and continued in. I gasped at first as the water was cold. Ron let go of my hand then turned around and sent a large wave of water head in my direction. I saw it about 2 seconds before it hit me, but I screamed anyway

"RON!" I shrieked. I, of course, splashed him back but he sunk under the water before the splash hit him. I kicked out my legs to propel myself to where I saw him last. About 5 hands away from where he had been I felt something grab my foot underwater. I kicked out my leg finding resistance, the thing in possession of my leg began to pull me backwards, towards it. Without warning I was suddenly pulled under the water to find Ron grinning impishly at me. We broke the surface of the water panting.

We continued to play about like that for a while until relised that we had to home for breakfast at the burrow. We gather our stuff, walked back.

Ginny was in the shower when we got back so we headed in the direct of the room we shared.

I walked into the room behind Ron, closing over the door behind us. We sank into my bed savouring our last few moments together before the magic of our morning swim was broken when we were summoned to breakfast.

"so…ummm… I think we should talk about what happened this morning" I said propping myself up on my elbows and looking down at Ron still eagle spread out across my bed  
"yeah" He replied. His eyes shut "But firstly I just want to say I'm sorry and I really don't want to ruin our friends ship and you saying no doesn't mean I won't still be your best friend'" He also propped himself up on elbows and looked at me expectantly.  
"I know" I said softly "but you don't have to worry about any of that. I took a breath and Ron moved to sit upright on my bed, I followed in suit. "because…we IReallyLikeYouTooRonaldWeasley"

Ron gasped. He raised his hand and reached out to my face, traced his fingers along my chin and mouth, sending shivers down my spine, He paused when his warm hand was resting on my cheek. I could feel my heart racing and my muscles were almost quivering in anticipation for what might happen next.  
"Ron…" I breathed, letting a hand slide behind the back of his neck, coming to rest once it resided in his dark locks. The other hand, ran down his chest, I could feel the defined lines of muscle underneath the thin, soaked shirt.  
"Mione…" I heard him breathe in return. His hand reached for the small of my back and began to draw me closer to him. Until we were pressed together and there was no space between us. But I wanted to be closer to him still.

I looked deep into his electric blue eyes as we began to instinctively lean towards each other, our heads turning slightly to opposite sides. I could feel his warm breath mingling with mine. I felt a hunger stir, from deep in my stomach, I I needed to kiss Ron like I needed air to breathe.

My nails on the hand running through his hair, caught emitting a gasp from him. We were so close to each other now-

"CLICK!" The door clicked open Ginny burst in. Ron and I jumped away from each other as if the we are touching fire.  
"Gosh!" I heard Ginny gasp  
"I…ummm…errrrrr" said Ron, red and flusters jumping up from my bed "ahh…. Ibettergo" I managed to stutter out before fleeing the room at an alarming pace.

"I'm sorry Mione" Ginny muttered apologetically  
"But I guess you told him how you feel?!" she nudged me grinning  
"well…yeah…" I feel a smile explode across my face.  
"so?" Ginny commanded "Tell me _ **EVERYTHING**_!"

 _A/N_

 _Hey Guys! I don't think this is my best chapter, so I might repost a more edited version later, but there will be no major plot points changed, just some words so it flows a bit better. This was originally where I was going to end the story, but I feel like there are still a heap of lose ends to be tied up still so there may be another chapter yet!_

 _As always, constructive criticism is appreciated, I'd love to make my writing the best it can be! Thank you so much for all your support, dear readers, it really means a lot to me!_

 _TheGirlInThePineappleEarrings XXX_


End file.
